In this piece published at POQ we illustrate the inspiring effects of the 2019 International Women Day in Spain on public opinion. We show that the IWD prompted the public to think and talk about gender inequalities, setting a temporal context propitious for opinion conformation.
You can access the article here.
On November 18, the Urban RED 2021 Conference will be held virtually. Urban policies in the framework of the 2030 Agenda: An international perspective (European cases). This conference, organized by the PTyP Research Group in conjunction with UrbanRed and funded by the V Own Plan and the Department of Sociology of the University Pablo de Olavide, aims to be a meeting point to discuss the importance of Urban Agendas at regional and local level. To this end, academic experts from different backgrounds from both Europe and Latin America will present their own experiences with this urban policy instrument in order to advance in improving knowledge about the MDUSI, which covers the Urban Agendas as a public policy instrument for its promotion. More information on the event can be found here.
The member and director of the research group Politics, Territory and Participation of the Pablo de Olavide University, Manuel Jimenez Sanchez, has presented the results of a research on International Women’s Day to IPSA, at the 26th World Congress of Political Science, held from July 10 to 15, 2021.
The paper presented at the congress is entitled “Capturing the transformative potential of protest events for the general public: the International Women’s Day 2019 in Spain”. Also, together with Manuel Jiménez Sánchez, researchers Marta Farile – Senior Scientist at the Institute of Politics and Public Goods at CSIC – and Josep Lobrera – Professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Madrid and at Tufts University & Skidmore College -, both members of the research team of the PROTEiCA project, are part of the authorship.
The paper was presented on July 10, 2021 in the panel GS02.02 Social Dynamics and Politics – New Social Movements, New Parties. Below is the video of the presentation.
Finally, Elena Ferri and Luis Navarro, members of the PROTEiCA project team and from the University of Granada and Pablo de Olavide respectively, presented a paper entitled “Emotions and Protest: A methodological Proposal to Identify and Categorize Feelings in 8M and Pensioner Protesters in Spain”, at the session Alternatives Forms of Engagement: Outcomes and Methodological Issues, held on July 12, 2021.
This book is a product of the CIUPARCRI research project (Citizenship and parliamentarians in times of crisis and democratic renewal: the comparative case of Spain in the context of southern Europe), directed by the editors of the book and linked to the Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Of the 30 people who contribute to the book, 10 belong to the Politics, Territory and Participation (PTyP) group, and academics of international prestige are incorporated.
The book analyzes what the Spanish parliamentary elites are like, how they have changed over the last decade, and to what extent they resemble the citizens they represent. It also includes a comparative dimension with southern European countries (Italy, Greece and Portugal). Throughout 18 chapters, the impact of the Great Recession on the configuration of parliaments and the diversity of representatives is studied, and, in particular, whether the emergence of new parties has led to a change in representativeness in demographic (gender, age or social class), ideological or attitudinal terms. The analyses put forward by the different contributions are based on two surveys conducted simultaneously in 2018 to parliamentarians (Congress and Senate as well as the 17 autonomous parliaments) and citizens. Comparing the results of both surveys and with data from similar surveys conducted a decade ago, the book examines the changes that have occurred in representation during the course of the Great Recession and provides evidence on the growing gap between citizens and their representatives, which manifests itself in the form of a political crisis resulting in disaffection and distrust towards representatives. In addition, using data from the Comparative Candidates Survey, the book compares the ideological congruence between citizens and their representatives in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, countries whose democracies have come under severe pressure from the consequences of the Great Recession.
In its conclusions, the book points out three hypotheses that explain why, despite Spain’s good scores in international rankings of democracies, citizens are so dissatisfied with it. The first possible explanation is the result of the institutional distance that exists in the complexities of decision-making in the political system, which leads to a lack of knowledge and understanding. The second hypothesis is the one that puts ideological differences between parliamentarians and citizens as an explanation. The third answer to the question points to the possible reluctance on the part of people who are “inside” the system (the institutions) to provide “outsiders” with opportunities to influence decision-making, beyond elections, which are the institutionally recognized moment for citizens to have a chance to influence.